Transfer Students
Olin College has no formal transfer policy. We generally review all transfer applications on an individual basis and anyone applying for transfer admission applies through our regular admission process with the same requirements (including standardized testing like the SAT or ACT and a strong background in calculus and physics). The faculty would need to review previous coursework to determine how much, if any, credit would be given. Transfer applicants in the past have generally not received credit due to the structure of our program, specifically our first-year curriculum, which is a key part of the Olin experience that is a project-focused, interdisciplinary group of courses in math, physics and engineering science. All students spend four full years at Olin, since each year of the curriculum builds upon the previous year. Several students have attended a year (or two!) of college elsewhere, but they have applied with the understanding that if admitted, they would begin as first-year students at Olin. At this time, the only transfer credit granted is for courses taken via cross-registration at Olin's academic partner institutions – Brandeis University, Babson and Wellesley Colleges.
**Special note for the Common Application: students who are currently enrolled at a college and wish to transfer elsewhere will still need to submit a first-year application to Olin. The Common Application allows up to two application accounts per email address. If you are applying as a transfer student to several schools along with Olin, you will need to fill out the transfer application for the other schools as well as the first year application for Olin. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have questions about this, please email apply@olin.edu.
